Pell calls on youth to be spiritually prepared

Published: 01 October 2007

As planning for the world's largest youthfest gathers momentum,
Sydney’s Archbishop George Pell’s main concern is not the logistics of
the mammoth event, rather the spiritual preparation of young
Australians.

While
Archbishop Pell anticipates there will be difficulties involved in
hosting up to a half-million people for World Youth Day 2008, he is
confident that the July 15-20 celebration will be well organized, the Catholic Online reported.

"The most important challenge is the spiritual and religious preparation," he said.

"In the 2006 census, nineteen percent of Australians did not claim a religion, up 2 percent from the previous count.

"An
increasing minority of young Australians and other Australians are
tempted to believe that you can live a good life without God - there's
an erosion of faith and practice."

Archbishop Pell said he had personally witnessed "deep conversions" in youths at World Youth Day in Rome in 2000.

"One
of the great blessings that the World Youth Day will give us is that it
will present the one true God to us, remind us of the teaching and the
role of Christ, the only Son of God, and generally place spiritual
values in the public domain.”